


Light at the End of the Mineshaft

by orphan_account



Category: Original Work
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Period-Typical Racism, Period-Typical Sexism, Racism, Sexism, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-24 01:11:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20899187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Circa 1600's, Lea Whittley is the only woman who works in the mines owned by the Cornwails, a wealthy family who dabbles in some very illegal activities. One day they bring in a slave who they claim killed an innocent man. Lea's not so sure that's the case, she thinks this slave is completely innocent. And she isn't even sure he is a slave at all.





	Light at the End of the Mineshaft

**Author's Note:**

> Don't expect this to get that much traffic, but I'm posting it here so my friends and family can read it until I decide what to do with it.

They brought the slave to the tunnel Lea worked in three days after the new moon. She was busy digging through the clay, blinking as red dust fell over her face when she heard the commotion.

A slave. Lea didn't understand at the beggining. With all the dim lighting, all she saw was the supervisor, Silas, chaining the dark skinned man to one of the wagons they used to carry ore out of the mines. But that fact alone roused Lea's suspisions. Once the unknown slave turned around, Lea found herself staring into bright green eyes. Eyes most certainly not belonging to a simple labor slave. 

"Why is he here?" Lea whispered to the miner to to her, unable to look away from the strange man 

"Seems like he killed one of the men working for the Cornwails. You know how this ends." 

Sadly, she knew. Any slave who killed a freeman served a forced labor sentence, which length varied but always spread over many years. If the Cornwails were involved-which they were, since they owned the mine-the slave wasn't leaving anytime soon. In fact, Lea was curious to find out how the man was killed, since the Cornwails weren't above using illegal ways to get more employees-she was a woman working in the mines, after all. What really caught her attention about the man, though, was the marking which covered his arms and torso. Green and yellow paints in a variety of shapes, each representing something different. The man was from the preserve. The preserve, as it was known by, was a place where the Souloahi Tribe dwelt. The Souloahi tribe hailed from Africa, but lived in the preserve in order to easily communicate and conduct trade with the western world. While the Souloahi tribe weren't considered slaves, they weren't exactly free either. Lea heard the rumors about the tribe, how it was filled with feral men and cannibals. People who would attack and kill anyone who stepped onto their land. Looking at the man, she didn't think that sounded to far fetched. 

"Why a Souloahi, though?" She asked, "Isn't that risky?" 

The miner shrugged 

"Why not? He only has to pull this wagon all day long. Nothing complicated." 

"But isn't he feral?" 

"I don't know, Whittley, ask him yourself."

Lea was tempted to do just that, except she cared about all of her body parts, even those she didn't like all that much. So approaching a Souloahi? No, not for her. Besides, Silas already barked at the miners to go back to work. Lea spun on her heels, determined to disappear into her tunnel before the supervisor noticed her. She hadn't taken but two steps before a hand firmly grasped her arm 

"Not so fast, Whittley." 

Scratching at the tip of her nose, Lea turned back to Silas, ready for a lecture about some imaginary mistake she had committed, or whatever nonsense the supervisor loved spitting at her every single day. 

"Yes, sir?" 

The supervisor stared at her in a way that made her want to cover herself, even though she was fully clothed. She jerked her arm out of the man's slimy grip. 

"I noticed your pickaxe started to wear out. Go grab a new one." 

She obeyed, doing anything to keep her far away from that man. On her way, she passed right in front of the Souloahi, who sat on the ground with his back against the wagon, heavy chains around his wrists, shoulders and waist. Lea paused and hesitantly took a step towards him.

"Urm...Hello. I'm-" 

A deep growl cut her off, sounding more animal than anything human. 

"Okay, I'm leaving. Good talk." She scurried away, determined to stay away from now on.


End file.
